| Efficacy of Thymoquinone Loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles Functionalized by Hyaluronic Acid in Targeting Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma׃ An in-Vitro Study |
| Paper ID : 1059-YRC2022 |
| Authors |
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hend abdalla alshabrawy *1, Wafaa Hassanien El-Hossary2, Mohammed Hussein Amer2, sally salem mohammed2 1suez canal university 2Suez canal university |
| Abstract |
| Background: oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a highly aggressive tumor. The nonspecific toxicity of the different available treatments of OSCC on normal tissues is still a challenge. Nanotechnology can provide a reliable technique for decreasing nonspecific drug toxicity. Using chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs) functionalized by hyaluronic acid (HA) as a drug carrier may provide a good drug delivery system in the treatment of cancer. HA will act as a ligand to direct the NPs towards its specific receptors CD44 which are highly expressed on tumor cells more than normal cells. Thymoquinone (TQ) is one of the phytochemicals that was intensively studied in much research as a potent anti-cancer agent. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of thymoquinone loaded chitosan nanoparticles functionalized by hyaluronic acid in targeting oral squamous cell carcinoma. Method: human OSCC cell line and human normal oral epithelial cells, used in this experiment, were treated with different concentrations of free TQ, TQ-CS-NPs, and TQ-CS-HA-NPs. Cell viability was assessed with WST-1 after 72h. Results: viability of cancer cells was decreased after treatment with TQ-CS-HA-NPs compared with free TQ while normal cells showed better viability when they were treated with NPs especially TQ-CS-HA-NPs. These results could be attributed to better targeting of cancer cells by NPs after HA functionalization due to the high affinity of CD44 to HA. Conclusion: we can conclude that surface functionalization of CS-NPs by HA can effectively increase targeting of the loaded drug to cancer cells and diminish toxicity on normal cells. |
| Keywords |
| Squamous cell carcinoma, thymoquinone, chitosan, hyaluronic acid, nanoparticles. |
| Status: Accepted (Oral Presentation) |
